


Mages, spies and qunari horns

by DragonstoneH



Category: Dragon Age: Origins, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alpha Ashido Mina, Alternate Universe - Dragon Age Fusion, Apostates (Dragon Age), F/M, Friends to Lovers, Mages (Dragon Age), Qunari
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-22 23:00:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18537226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonstoneH/pseuds/DragonstoneH
Summary: Born an elf and a mage, Izuku is the lowest of the low among the pariahs of Ferelden. Running away from persecution, he meets an unlikely friend in Mina, a Qunari spy. Will they find freedom together? Or will their cultures separate them before they can follow their hearts?





	1. Alleys of Denerim

**Author's Note:**

> Discussing Dragon Age with a friend, the idea came up to make this AU, and since I know Dragon Age rather well, this was very fun to make!

“Izuku, we’re not going to get away. We are apostates now” Shouto’s voice was low, almost drowned by the loud clamour of “Dwarven crafts, fine dwarven crafts! Direct from Orzammar!”.

“Technically, sure, but I have an idea!”

“Escaping to Denerim isn’t the entire idea? I mean, you’d be putting the entire alienage in danger if you returned home.”

“It isn’t. We’re running to the Free Marches, then the Anderfels. The Chantry would never chase us that far! And they have our phylacteries right here in Denerim. It is a big risk, but we can make it!”

“If we are to do that, we’ll need coin, and my father has more than enough. If they don’t catch us…”

“They won’t. As far as they know, all of us mages that fought at Ostagar either died or returned, if anyone finds out we have magic, we tell them we moved with Teyrn Loghain’s people for safety!”

“Maker, that might just work. How do you wanna play this, Izuku? We have little supplies, we threw our staffs away and this city is as full of Templars as it is of thieves and beggars, and we aren’t exactly rich yet.”

“Hmmm…the Templars will be too focused on the influx of refugees from the Bannorn to focus on two tired travellers…With a hood on I look like a short human, your scar is distinctive but not famous…We have one gold piece or a hundred silvers, that can get us a room at an inn for a whole week. I think I got it, Shouto.”

“Yeah?”

“We get your coin, smash our Phylacteries, then we go to the docks, we’ll mix with the refugees fleeing, and leave Ferelden behind!”

“I’ll go scout my father’s manse, you get us a room at an inn?”

“Sure! I have the coin on me and all. Take care, mate.”

With a nod, Shouto left, stalking away into the crowd of Denerim’s market square. His father was a nobleman, a Bann from the South, a horrible man that had attacked his six-year-old son when he had found out he had magic. If the scar hadn't infected and the burn had spread, Shouto would have had a clear mark on his face, branded on like cattle; the symbol of the Chantry, heated red hot by Bann Todoroki while his guards held his crying son, printed onto his skin. A mage and blind in one eye, what an irony that his only friend was a “knife ears” and a mage too, a pariah the entire country was likely to despise.

As Shouto left for the mansions of the wealthy, Izuku looked around the market, hoping to find a discrete inn to stay, where the inn keep would ask no questions. Maybe the Gnawed Noble, behind the energetic dwarf merchant, who kept yelling about his wares, would be a good bet.

Opening the heavy wooden door, Izuku was met by the delicious aroma of lovingly cooked food, the spices dancing in his nose as his belly grumbled, remembering the stringy meat of the rabbits Shouto and him had managed to hunt and had tried to cook over a fire. If Shouto could help them get money, they might feast every night!

Izuku had done the math, and with 300 gold pieces each, they would be more than able to secure passage to the Free Marches, then buy horses and make their way through the wastelands to the Anderfels, a harsh, unforgiving land that had withstood the might of empires, where Izuku believed two young men who wanted work and were willing to pull their weight would be accepted. With no prejudices.

Before Ostagar, Izuku might have considered the Grey Wardens an option to escape the Circle and all the oppression of living as a mage there; the Wardens didn’t care for race, if one was a mage or one’s past, all they wanted was people willing to stop the Blight. But now they were gone, dead at Ostagar or on the run from Teyrn Loghain’s hired knives; the two surviving Wardens had just a bit less chance of getting caught and killed as Shouto and him.

He shook his head to rid himself of those dreams, about saving the world from the Blight and being granted a boon from the King, maybe to help the other elves or to weaken the Chantry. And back in the present, he approached the inn keep.

“What can I help you with, lad?”

“Can a friend and I get a room for the week?”

“Refugees from the war? I’ll not ask many questions, but your silver most be the real thing, young’un”

“We have a gold coin, maybe you can give me some change in silver to buy some of that nice smelling food and some ale?”

“Haha! You remind me of my youth, young’un. Not yet fifteen and already out drinking my elders with fresh brown ale! Of course! Now, why don’t you take of that hood and wait in a table?”

“I’m ashamed of my last haircut, ser. I’m afraid that I will never be able to be a barber!” Of course, Izuku was really hiding his ears.

“Embrace your bald spots, my lad! Be proud of them, as I am proud of this big belly! Actually…seems there’s no empty tables. Would you mind too much sharing with that tall woman over there? She’s some sort of foreigner, no idea from where, all I know is that she’s too tall to be a dwarf!” The keep bellowed in laughter at his own joke, and Izuku politely chuckled, before going to said table.

The woman’s face was hidden in a bigger hood than his, so he couldn’t even see her face, but he still greeted her politely; even when dirt poor, his mother Inko had raised him well. “Hello! I was told by the inkeep I could sit here, would that be okay to you?”

A bit startled, the woman jumped a bit on her seat “Vashedan! I can’t hear a thing in this damn hood! Or see anything anyway!” Two hands, wearing half finger gloves of sturdy leather, with surprisingly delicate fingers, reached for the hood and started pulling it down…until it got caught in a horn. “Ahhhh! Help me, friend! I’m stuck!” Izuku reached over and helped the girl remove the hood from her horn, and Izuku was stunned.

He was speechless, being less than an arm’s length away from the girl. She was beautiful, her pale grey skin blushing pink in the cheeks, an easy smile behind her full lips, her elegant horns emerging past a sea of curly hair, and best of all, those eyes, golden and black intermingled…And she was powerful too, just as there were laughing dimples on her cheeks, there were strong muscles on her neck. And those delicate fingers looked like they could snap him in two, easily.

“I’m sorry to have startled you!” he said, extremely proud of himself for being able to string together a sentence in the presence of this goddess.

“Don’t worry! It was all my fault! I’m Mina!” she offered a hand, which Izuku shook. “I’m a Qunari, if that is what you’re gonna ask!”

“I eh…I’m Izuku, it is very nice to meet you! And I would think it impolite to ask someone “What are you?” the moment you meet them, right?” That made her laugh, and Izuku was not surprised at all to find that her laughter was just as loud and powerful as the rest of her.

“Well, we Qunari are not too common in these parts, so I thought you might ask! Actually, I think there may only be two or three other _real_ Qunari in Ferelden, the rest are Tal Vashoth thugs, they are worse than…I forget the word in your language…pig poop?”

That, combined with her cute little accent, made Izuku laugh earnestly, like he hadn't in many months now. “Well, I wouldn’t ever judge someone I just met by their race, I have been in the receiving end of that enough times to know how bad it feels. I’m…an elf, you know?”

Mina reached over and moved his hood a bit, saw his ears and then put it back where it was “I see! I thought you were just a shorter, skinnier human with a very pretty face!” As Izuku’s face burned hot and got all blushed up, she laughed and said “Oh, elves can change their skin colour! Neat!”

“No, I’m just…no one’s ever called me pretty, ever.”

“Was the right word handsome? I may be trained as a sp…merchant, but I still don’t know all the phrases!”

It was all Izuku could do to cover his face and mumble “Thank you”

“Nah, thank you for not being scared to talk to me! All the patrons thought I’d kill them or something, I guess, I have been here alone for two hours!”

“Well, Fereldans tend to be afraid of what they don’t know. Maybe we can share my food? So you see there are still good people here, even if we all want to leave and escape the Blight.”

“Ah, that Blight! The Arishok sent someone to check on that, and the Ben…wait, that’s supposed to be a secret. Why do you have such a trustworthy face, Izuku?”

“Ah! Again with the compliments! You’re gonna kill me like this!”

“What, people here don’t trust elves? In Par Vollen they are just more Qunari, we don’t care about what body they use!”

“That sounds much better than Ferelden, to be honest. Is Par Vollen the Qunari country?”

“Yes, and my home! You know what…can you keep a secret?”

“I wouldn’t be alive right now if I couldn’t. You tell me that and I tell you mine?”

“That’s what friends would do, and I really want a friend right now!”

“I’m on the same situation, I only have one person I can trust, and I’m pretty scared, to be honest.”

“Okay…I was sent by the Ben-Hassrath to spy on Ferelden! I have also made enemies with a couple of gangs in the process, which is not good, but hey! I’m almost two meters tall, have a big sword and I have almost all the coin needed to adopt a cute Mabari hound I saw on the market! I’m unstoppable!”

“Well, that’s a pretty big story, Mina! If you want someone to help you fight those thugs, I’m with you! I’ll always help when I can.”

Her smile was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. “You are the best Fereldan I have ever met, Izuku! So…they are supposed to ambush me in a couple hours, wanna go after eating?”

“Sure! But…you know they will ambush you?”

“I’m a spy, we’re supposed to know!”

With Mina’s help, Izuku tore through two whole chickens, seasoned with all manner of spices, and had a whole pitcher of fresh brown ale. After weeks on the run, living off the land, it was glorious. And the food also excused himself from revealing to Mina that he was an apostate, at least for the time being.

Maybe Mina could help them with the Phylacteries later? And also, she’d probably want some way of getting out of Ferelden to report back, maybe they could all go in the same ship! After a few hours talking and joking together, Izuku really did want to spend as much time with Mina as he possibly could.

The appointed hour was nearly upon them, though, so they walked out, still bantering with good humour as they approached the deserted alley those clueless thugs would use to ambush Mina. Mina was just finishing explaining that she had acquired some of her armour in Ferelden, so she had to mix leather and plate (as no Fereldan armour could wrap around her thighs), that the bandits made their appearance.

“Oi, you there, horn head, grey face, elf ears bitch!” said their leader, a guy in leather armour and a helm that resembled a bird’s beak. “You killed two of our men, we’ll make you pay!”

“They tried to murder me, you dolt! What was I supposed to do, let them?”

“We’ll kill you dead, your little boyfriend won’t help you any!” As much as Izuku liked the idea of being Mina’s boyfriend, he despised when most people called him “little”. He was tall for an elf!

He took off his hood and revealed his green hair and pointy elf ears “This little boyfriend is gonna kick your arse, bandit scum!”

Mina didn’t let the bandits have any other word, she unsheathed the greatsword on her back and charged at them. The moment after Izuku stopped admiring how strong she was and how he was definitely into muscular women, he joined, taking out his dagger and doing his best to help her.

Mina was an absolute powerhouse, easily cutting through five of the thugs before Izuku had managed to knock one out with a pommel strike from his dagger, and was duelling their leader, the blows from her greatsword visibly weighing down on the bandit’s defence.

But the other guy remaining was huge, hulking human, as tall as Mina and twice as broad, and he was already swinging a huge axe at Mina’s head. Izuku was too far away to stab the man, too far away to jump in the axe’s path and save Mina. He prayed to whatever god would listen that the Qunari didn’t hate mages, and he focused all the mana he could summon into a powerful lightning strike, catching the big man in the chest.

The man was dead, as was the leader, who Mina had just defeated. When she turned around, Izuku’s hands were still smoking from casting the spell. Mina’s face had turned sad, heartbroken. “You’re a Saarebas…you’re a mage”  


	2. Magical Espionage Operations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Another one"-DJ Khaled.  
> I strive to live by such wise words, and sometimes the inspiration to write takes me there!

“You’re a Saarebas…you’re a mage” had said Mina, surprised at the revelation that this young man who she had just befriended, was supposedly one of those dangerous beings, always a mistake away from being overtaken by demons, of becoming abominations. This handsome, funny, kind young man who had shared his dinner with her without a second thought, who spoke to her as a friend, who had just saved her from getting her head cleaved in two.

She felt sad, because she knew she couldn’t just go against her entire culture because a Saarebas had been the single best person in the entire country, because a Saarebas had fought beside her with no hesitation, because a Saarebas was simply someone she wanted to get to know, to really befriend.

“That…was the secret I said I had. I’m a mage, yeah. And a fugitive. I…I understand it, if you don’t ever want to see me again.” His face, those poor sad eyes already getting filled with tears, the longing in his words…Mina felt horrible hurting him.

But what could she say, what could she do? Tell him that the country she was willing to fight, die and even lie for thought he was as dangerous as an actual demon? Tell him that it was all alright, while everything she had been taught brought paranoia to her mind? Nope, she had to face it and speak like grownups, not like children still learning from the Tamassrans!

“I’m sorry if I made a weird face, it is just that my culture tells us that Saarebas, people with magic, are really dangerous and always prone to getting possessed by demons! Are your mages different, Izuku?” She hoped that he would prove her wrong, that Fereldans had more control, or no contact with demons, anything!

“People fear that, but we aren’t. We’re people! When you lock us up in a tower and tell us every single day how we are a mistake, how we are a threat, how they could kill us and no one would care, of course it makes us angry! The system is wrong, it makes us a desperate people, and desperate mages do turn to demons, but it is because they pushed us that far!”

Well, that didn’t really reassure Mina. “My culture…I think we may even treat them worse. I…I wanna trust you, I really want you to be my friend, but…I’m afraid, okay?”

“Mina, at a certain age they test us to see if we can reject demons. I passed, my first friend, Ochako, didn’t. The Templars made her Tranquil, they pretty much took her soul away. She can’t dream anymore, can barely feel. I had to see her face every day until I escaped, those dead eyes seeing into my soul. Yes, magic makes us very dangerous, but the Templars are what we really fear. And…I would never use my magic to hurt a friend. Never.”

“I…I will trust you. You have said the truth, which we Qunari value above all else. And you have saved my life, which counts as a lot too. So…please prove my people wrong, Izuku. And maybe someday you and I can change life for the Saarebas.”

He wiped the tears from his eyes and nodded “That’s probably the most reasonable anyone has ever been to me, an apostate. I will not waste this opportunity to be your friend, Mina” Vashedan! The way he said it, Mina wanted him to be more than that.

“So…you got a plan, Izuku?”

“Me and my friend are going to sneak into a mansion, steal some money, then go into the Chantry and smash our phylacteries, then we go North, to the Free Marches. I was thinking of…asking you to come with us, but I wouldn’t want to impose too much.”

“Impose? You volunteered to help me fight some thugs before I even mentioned how many they were! I at least owe you a favour! And I’m going North, too, so it would be great!” With the good mood back again, Mina had somehow ended up agreeing to helping two Bas Saarebas in essentially escaping their keepers, the equivalent of their Arvaarads. And also raiding some noble’s estate, but as a spy and saboteur, that she would have volunteered for anyway!

 

Shouto Todoroki had lived such a life that he didn’t think anything could surprise him. His family history had made him slow to trust, had mutilated his face and made him blind in one eye, and as a mage, he had lost all his inheritance, and had been forced to live in captivity for years. And now a veteran of the Battle of Ostagar, he had even seen the legendary Darkspawn, close enough that he could see the way they died against his spells, fire and ice.

What he didn’t expect was to see Izuku meet him again accompanied by a tall woman with horns, which if his education was correct, was a Qunari. A Qunari that looked at Izuku with curious eyes, and, if he was guessing right, with quite a bit of attraction. But he had also read how the Qunari treated mages…maybe she was a deserter? A rebel?

“Oh, hello! I’m Mina, you must be Izuku’s friend!” said the Qunari, almost crushing his hand with a handshake.

“I’m Shouto, son of Bann Todoroki before he disowned me. Why would a Qunari associate with mages?”

The girl smiled and Shouto could see Izuku fawning over that. His friend had just gone and fallen in love with the first tall girl they had met? He knew Izuku had a type, but come on.

“I want to prove the Ben Hassrath wrong about them, and be Izuku’s friend!” Sure, “friends”. Did either of them know that Qunari didn’t marry or have children out of love? Was he the only one that had read or that had eyes to see the two?

“If you can sneak around and knock out guards, that’s good enough for me. I’m not here to make more friends, with Izuku it is enough.”

“Shouto, you say that every time, you silly lad. She’s willing to challenge her prejudices and that’s a lot more than what we could expect.”

“Sure. It is night time already, wanna go? Follow my lead.”

Climbing over the low wall that surrounded Shouto’s family’s old Denerim house, he led them quietly to a postern gate, evading the guards that father had hired to look after his property while he was in his holdings. The postern was locked, but in the prison that was the Circle of Magi, Shouto had learned how to pick a lock, and soon they were in.

Inside, they found themselves in the kitchen, where the cook was sleeping. The fat man snored loud enough to drown their footsteps, so Shouto used hand signals to tell Izuku to take all the food he could, and the Qunari to stand guard in the kitchen’s door, while he moved up and emptied the vault.

His friend and the Qunari occupied, Shouto moved silently through the house. A wealthy man but still cheap, father didn’t spend on many guards for the inside of his mansion, it seemed. Until he spotted a pair of guards, warming themselves on a chimney, just outside the vault door.

Maybe he could steal some other things and sell them? Or not, maybe distract them. Father’s room was above the vault, he could try something there…

Creeping up the stairs, Shouto found no guards in that floor, confirming that only two had been posted. He reached his father’s chambers, and found the most perfect thing to set on fire “That map Teyrn Loghain gave you, Father. Just some ashes now.”

“Is that…smoke, mate?”

“I think…let’s go check”

Success! Shouto got out of the room and into a nearby armoire, ready to move once the guards were gone. He heard the footsteps grow near, then move away…He rushed downstairs and into the vault room, where he simply opened the safe, picking up three large bags full of gold pieces. Thinking about the Qunari’s strength, he picked a fourth one, and joined his companions back in the kitchen.

A bag each, and Izuku with all the food, they ran out the postern and were over the wall in instants. On the other side, Izuku and the Qunari shared a look, then started laughing “I though that Qalaba was going to wake up any moment! But he was snoring so much!”

When Izuku caught his breath a bit, he asked what Qalaba meant, to which the Qunari replied “They are very dumb cows from Par Vollen! They are a bit smaller, though!” That made even Shouto chuckle a bit, he remembered that the cook was indeed quite dumb from all those years ago.

“We should take this back to the inn, hide it well.” Izuku pointed, scratching his chin pensively.

“And enjoy the dinner!” said Mina the Qunari, and, with the growl in his stomach, Shouto agreed.

 

Sometime later, as they feasted on the stolen food, the topic of the Phylacteries came up. “It is the hour of the wolf, Izuku. The templars will not be alert.” Shouto said.

“Well, no better time than the moment, right? Let’s go get them, maybe you can distract them, Mina?”

“Of course! I was tasked with gathering knowledge, so I can ask them some very important questions!”

With that decided, all three left the inn quietly and walked over to the Chantry. A big place of worship, able to fit hundreds of believers, the Chantry had an annex building for the Templars stationed in the capital. And there was where the Phylacteries of several mages were kept, samples of blood that could be used to trace mages anywhere in the world. Using blood magic to kill mages, the Templars’ hypocrisy knew no bounds.

“I’m up!” said Mina, as she left the low wall they had hidden behind to go and talk with the Templars at the entrance.

Loudly, she proclaimed “Greetings, Bas! I seek knowledge of the Arvaarad group called “Temple” or something! The Arishok himself sent me to test if any of you could defeat a Qunari, so how about a fist fight?”

“Her idea of a distraction is to start a fist fight?” asked Shouto, looking quite exasperated.

“Look Shouto, it is working!”

A few more Templars had appeared, leaving the door wide open…and setting up a ring of people around Mina, who was already starting to pummel the first templar into the ground.

Sneaking around them, Izuku and Shouto managed to get inside the house, and soon found a stack of crates full of the Phylacteries, finding finally the Phylacteries of those that had gone to Ostagar. “Uldred, Wynne…here, Izuku and Shouto.” With little ceremony, they threw the artefacts to the ground, smashing them to pieces. “Looks like someone dropped these, what a horrible coincidence” said Shouto, a grim smirk on his face.

And, as quickly as they had entered, the two mages had left, just in time to see Mina knockout the Templar sergeant with a mighty haymaker to the face. The second in command had then told her there was no one else left to fight, so Mina had joined them a bit later, a big smile on her face.

“Qunari aren’t really supposed to smile too much, but my face just does it! And beating up those _basra_ really made me happy!” Izuku decided that he needed that smile in his life, so much.

“It’ll be dawn soon, looks like we’ll be sleeping the day. There’s only one bed, how do we all sleep?”

A face reddening spell might have produced less of a reaction on Izuku than thinking about sleeping in the same bed as Mina, though thankfully, Shouto suggested something that was better than he might have babbled in response. “The bed’s pretty big, you take it, Qunari. We’ll sleep on the floor, Izuku because he is a gentleman and would have suggested it, I, because if you kick in your sleep it is likely to kill me. All agreed?”

They agreed, and, even on the floor, Izuku had great sleep. After destroying his biggest tie to the Templars, he was so relieved that he drifted to sleep immediately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thanks for reading.


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